In December the AIA announced the winners of three of its major annual honors Renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano is the recipient of the 2008 AIA Gold Medal, following last year’s posthumous award to Edward Larrabee Barnes. The Firm of the Year Award goes to KieranTimberlake, a Philadelpha-based practice led by partners Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake and known for its development of innovative sustainable technologies. Chicagoan Stanley Tigerman of Tigerman McCurrey Architects is this year’s Topaz Medallion recipient, in recognition of his work as a practitioner and educator. Tigerman is co-founder, with Eva Maddox, of the Chicago alternative design school Archeworks. The winners will formally receive their prizes at the annual Accent on Architecture gala on Feb. 22 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.